Face The Nation: Congressional Gridlock
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Download | play (h/t David)
Bob Schieffer chastises the Congress for doing nothing going into their two week Thanksgiving break.
But my question is this: what do the following have in common: Legislation to provide health insurance for children; education legislation; energy legislation; the Farm Bill; funding the Iraq War; and legislation funding all federal agencies except the Pentagon next year? The answer is all of it is stalled in Congress, awaiting final action, tangled in the gridlock that the Republicans blame on the Democrats and the Democrats blame on the Republicans.
Well, aside from reports that Harry Reid is actually not going to allow the Senate to recess to stave off any egregious recess appointments by Bush, this kind of false equivalency that Schieffer espouses really ticks me off. Rather than recognizing the Republican obstructionism on every bit of legislation and Bush's vetoes (even on bills that passed with veto-proof majorities), Schieffer glosses over the real reasons things are not getting done in Congress.
Was he as "fair-minded" about the blame during the 109th "Do Nothing" Congress? I don't think he was.
good for you recognizing that Schieffer is no different than Katie Couric
Don't you love these quarter or less of truth spin stories that always come of the major media talking heads mouths? What I like even better is them following Bush around to every closed "town meeting" and republican and senior republican vets staged Bush talking points news meetings where he says exactly the same things he has said since he got into office and reporting it as major news every night...
Maybe Bob Schieffer should run for congress
Schieffer's fondness for corporate spin is intolerable.
He's just another old fart who is out of touch with mainstream America. He's just one more reason to not watch anything on the corporate networks.
Schieffer is old, set in his ways, and hasn't a clue.
Bob Schieffer is one of the few journalists I respect. Maybe it is anachronistic to expect Congress to work together to get important things done, but I am sure it is not wrong.
" Tangled in the gridlock..... ?" How about stalled on the desk of a president who won't approve anything that doesn't funnel money unchecked to his cronies . He even said the water bill was too costly ! That's like saying we can't afford to fix the plumbing because we maxed out the charge card buying the Humvee in the driveway . Impeach, indict, remove .
I find it very annoying when folk blame congress in general when it was the republican controlled congresses that fucked shit up. The republicans have turned people in cynics, that all congress is bad. Granted democrats falling on the wrong side of certain issues doesn't help.
Sarah @ 6:
Well then he should have mentioned the truth, which is that the Repubs have a strong caucus bent on obstructing whatever the Dems do, And some Dems go along with the Repubs, while the Dem leadership does not seem to have the spine to bring their own into line to break the obstruction of the Repubs.
He has vastly oversimplified and taken out any information about what is really going on in Congress. In fact, he seems to be saying "just work bipartisanly, Dems, and everything will work out fine", when that is exactly what the Repubs want - 100% of their bills passed and 0% of the Dems, so they can point out what a failure the Dems are during the next elections.
Schieffer is a Corperate Media leftist; that is, he only slants the right seventy or so percent of the time. See Eric Boehlert "Lapdogs" or the archives of the Daily Howler for Bob's contemptous attacks on Gore.
I`m to the point where nothing the MSM says pisses me off. I`ve become ambivalent to the max.These guys simply don`t get it, but their corporate sponsors do. Business is continuing to ruin this country.That`s what pisses me off.OUR SOUL HAS BEEN SOLD IN ORDER TO KEEP IT IN THE BLACK.
Well you send congress email after email telling them about the MSM and their blatant republican bias and something has to be done with all the lies people like rush and cable network like Fox, CNN espouse. There has to be a halt to this...We the people of America deserve to have a free press, one not owned by a very republican owned corporation.
Until and if they stop this bullshit we'll never know what it going on in this country.
Let's not forget his brother Tom Schieffer is Bush's old partner in the Texas Rangers, and was appointed by Bush as our ambassador to Japan. Sounds like conservative media bias!
One thing I despise in today's media is the "he said, she said" mentality, where they have to present all information in a format that no one is responsible for anything, nothing is likely to be more true, but just two perspectives, with no information provided which might weigh one view as being more likely true than another view, as that would be unfair. This is not journalism folks.
Bush WAS a "uniter, not a divider."
He united a minority republican party AGAINST the rest of the country... and they are still united today... against the rest of the country.
It is exaspirating and demoralizing to see right-minded Democrats in Congress, finally having achieved a slim majority voice, STILL fighting the powerful NEO-CON driven Right Wing Conspiricy which hi-jacked the soul of this country seven years ago. We can only hope that nuance, morality, and right-for-the-sake-of-right will gain ground in next year's election.
Didn`t Orwell say something to the effect that "Truth is the first casualty of fascism," or was that Sinclair Lewis?
Most of our leaders seem to lack truth or honor.
Ooops, besides the poor sentence grammar, I meant to say:
"nothing is more likely to be true"
and THIS IS WHY all the talking-heads on their cynical talking-head shows are getting away with dismissing the publics OUTRAGE at the repuglicans with such misleading statistics as that "the public is dissatisfied with congress"/low approval rating for congress...
this is a very insidious tactic: reporting on the political aspect (he said-he said) rather than offering analysis.
Schieffer should be ashamed!
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There's a solution to this gridlock in Congress: One Candidate announced their support of the effort to remove Pelosi as Speaker, making way for impeachment.
(Just think: If Face the Nation is correct, Congress isn't getting anything accomplished by avoiding impeachment. They cannot argue that they'll be worse off by doing their jobs and impeaching.)
To get a clear picture on exactly why it appears nothing is getting done in Congress, constituents must look at the votes which cut through the rhetoric or the likes of lazy reporting from people like Schieffer.
This report breaks down some of the important pieces of legislation that have stalled in the Senate. Look at the votes to see the Republican obstructionists.
http://home.ourfuture.org/assets/obstruction-by-filibuster.pdf
Republican whip Trent Lott told Roll Call, “The strategy of being
obstructionist can work or fail… and so far, it’s working for us. Democrats are the ones taking the blame for not getting anything done."
source: Pierce, Emily. GOP Complains Reid Filing Cloture Too Often. Roll Call. April 18, 2007. http://www.rollcall.com/issues/52_110/news/18024-
1.html
we should have Bob Schieffer in the public debate and see just how long he lasts. these guys along with the rest of the gop pundits will only face the public when it is completely controlled in their favor, forbid that they face a crowd that has not been culled to weed out real questions and opinion.
these guys parrot RNC newsletterism as "news"
Where is a rubber stamp congress when you need it? I wonder where all of this focus on the legislature was when the invasion of Iraq was announced... Oh that's right, the media unquestioningly backed whatever drivel wa spewed forth by the government back then.
iraqconcilable @ 7:
Why bother typing this anymore? It's time for progressives to be realists.
Don't be too mad at him, he sold his integrity for continued air time.
I'll never understand the shock and outrage at corporate media BS, it's been over a decade since any of you have seen or heard real news anywhere on the wasteland that is US broadcasting.
Expect it like I do, you'll eventually stop paying any attention to it like I do. After all, it's BS anyway.
Go to media from Europe, India, China and Russia if you want the real scoop on the US (or anywhere else for that matter).
Unless of course you are one of "The Good Americans" that abound these days, then just keep your head in the sand, take CBS/ABC/NBC/CNN/NPR et al at their words and start making a list of "radical" neighbors for the upcoming "terrorist" purge (that would be the chance to give that fat alcoholic brother in law of yours what he so richly deserves eh?).
The fact is Schieffer is one of the most respected journalists working today and regularly makes an effort to cut through the BS. Watching him cow-tow to wingnut perennial false cries of MSM bias toward democrats is sad indeed. It means the last vestige of "telling it like it is" journalism is circling the toilet bowl and about all we can look forward to is Katie and her nightly half-hour puff-o-rama non-news.
He is an f'ing pukebag, he knows where the problems are coming from, but he has his nose up certain Republicans asses and won't say. CBS management will cane his old wrinkled butt if he tells the truth.
When did Bob Schieffer become an honorary Oompa-Loompa?
bob should change his name to 'shilling' because that's what he does as often as he can for his republiscum. he should disclose what his brother's job is in the interests of honesty. HAH!
fukkk bob and fukkk timmeh and fukkk fux.
nightjar @ 26:
Bob has been a shill for at least the last 8 years. find out who his brother works for and then you will have every reason to question his so-called 'journalistic integrity'.
Symes @ 25:
Amen!
Blue Lensman @ 24:
If you don't want your Constitution supported and enforced, what DO you support?
I think that would be a great move if dingy harry kept the senate in session. make it some hard work campaign. it might gather sympathy from some of those people that say "rotten gov't always on vacation, blah, blah, blah." maybe even show some of us that last November's victory we gave the Dems isn't being taken for granted, that they are fighting for us common american citizens.
Funny that you will have 4 or 5 clips of a man laying into republican bull (click the "Face The Nation/Bob Schieffer" link) and the moment he says something you don't agree with, you tear into him like a war criminal. None of us will get far condemning an honorable and intelligent man for his opinion.
Sarah @ 34:
The least Schieffer could do is have a consistent approach. A vast majority of the MSM are ratings panderers that will say anything to endear themselves to the public. Schieffer doesn't have to be one of them but I guess he'll just cave too like his gutless colleagues. Journalistic integrity? Why how inconvenient.
He's wrong about Iraq. The Congress HAS finished funding the immoral genocide of Iraq for the year, and in fact until February at the earliest, and it doesn't look like more funding without specific withdrawal plans will be available even then.
It doesn't matter if we got there by veto or by the blockade of R en block voting in the Senate. What's important is that $50 Billion 'Withdrawal Bucks' were offered, and turned down.
It's a beautiful accomplishment in its own terms, and Bob Schieffer's attempts to pretend to reporting missed the story completely. Maybe he should take some Rove Brainwashing refresher courses? His implants seem to be failing.
Sarah @ 34:
Where is one of those? Bob Shieffer is not honorable, and he is not sharing his intelligence, because if he did, he wouldn't carry water for the failed case would-be dictators.
But if he wants to put ANYTHING of the gross criminality on screen, that deserves a posting, seems to me. Doesn't pay the way for his otherwise charming corporate-media nonentity, Sarah. If he had a soul, he'd have quit two years ago.
Paul in LA @ 37:
I said click the link. This is why I can't be an activist. I can't stand zealots regardless if they agree with me or not.
Sarah @ 38 "I said click the link. This is why I can't be an activist. I can't stand zealots regardless if they agree with me or not."
Great, well while you are patting yourself on the back for purity, the corporations -- one of which pays Schieffer NOT to report the news -- are kicking your cat down the stairs, raping your dog, and crapping on your car.
Moderation in the face of overt tyranny is the last haven of the cowardly.
I don't care who is brother is or where he works and I didn't say I thought he had "journalistic integrity" but that he's perceived that way by many ordinary American's. I see him as sometimes saying what needs to be said about the Bushies and then, too often, unloading the "false equivalency " drivel so prevalent nowadays among the MSM. I don't think he's anywhere near being a shill for Bush as others have been.
well, as I said Nightjar, he only scans right 70 percent of the time and does it with a touch of comparative light touch. Oh joy! This is the sort of thing that had liberals thinking, for years, that Dennis Miller was a left wing comic.
Were it not for Bob Scheiffer, i would watch none of the talking head shows on Sunday morning.
After all of the retirements, dismissals, and "scandals", he seemed to be the one remaining newsman of CBS's Golden Era of newscasting... but, he, too, has descended into bulls**t premature election frenzy. His final comments are the few that aren't dominated by candidates or Politico-dot-com... but they, though thought-provoking, are often rocking-chair politics, and a waste of his Old-School "gravitas".
No, confrontation is not his style, like the Mike Wallaces, though just a bit would be refreshing.
But, would General Electric allow it?
Despite occasional flashes of near-brilliance Scheiffer showed before the writer's strike, he's getting of an age where the 'gridlock' he should be concerned about is the entanglement of the neurons and the clashes of the synapses in his head.
Bob, when you lay your head down for a quick respite during a commercial, and lift it up to find that it's tomorrow, you may want to consider using the rest of your time preparing for your final nappie.
Every time I see this jaded liar on TV I have to wonder?
What idiot is running that station?
Don't they know how much America hates these people?
I would bet five bucks the people running this station is related to the brain child that killed the Sears Catalog on the dawn of the Internet era.
Smart folks. Bringing to America the NEXT DEPRESSION.
People forget that the framers wanted gridlock. The system was specifically designed to make passing new laws difficult in order to limit the power of the federal government.
That said, in this day and age it can be a problem. And certainly they didn't mean for it to be used in such a political fashion.
EPN
GODISNOWHERE
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